Sassoon also served in the British military during W.W. I and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery. He originally perceived the war as just, but by 1917 he had come to believe that it was being prolonged needlessly and that it was a war of aggression and conquest in which he could no longer in good conscience participate. His written denunciation of the war was printed in the press. Instead of having to face a court-martial, however, he was tried by a medical board, which concluded that he was suffering from severe shell shock. He was sent to a military hospital to recuperate, and wrote some of his best poems while there. (Adapted from World War I British Poets, edited by Candace Ward, Dover, 1997.)
“THEY”
The Bishop tells us: ‘When the boys come back
They will not be the same; for they’ll have fought
In a just cause: they lead the last attack
On Anti-Christ; their comrade’s blood has bought
New right to breed an honorable race.
They have challenged Death and dared him face to face.’
‘We’re none of us the same!’ the boys reply.
‘For George lost both his legs; and Bill’s stone blind;
Poor Jim’s shot through the lungs and like to die;
And Bert’s gone syphilitic: you’ll not find
A chap who’s served that hasn’t found some change.’
And the Bishop said: ‘The ways of God are strange.’
“THE ONE-LEGGED MAN”
Propped on a stick he viewed the August weald;
Squat orchard trees and oasts with painted cowls;
A homely, tangled hedge, a corn-stooked field,
With sound of barking dogs and farmyard fowls.
And he’d come home again to find it more
Desirable than ever it was before.
How right it seemed that he should reach the span
Of comfortable years allowed to man!
Splendid to eat and sleep and choose a wife,
Safe with his wound, a citizen of life.
He hobbled blithely through the garden gate,
And thought: ‘Thank God they had to amputate!’
EVELYN UNDERHILL (1875-1941)
Underhill is best known for her writing on spirituality, particularly her book, Mysticism.
The critic Nosheen Khan writes that Underhill’s poem, “The Non-Combatants” recognized “…the stoicism and indomitable courage of women who battle unceasingly, though none sees them fight.”
“THE NON-COMBATANTS”
Never of us be said
That we reluctant stood
As sullen children, and refused to dance
To the keen pipe that sounds across the fields of France.
Though shrill the note and wild,
Though hard the steps and slow,
The dancing floor defiled,
The measure full of woe,
And dread
The solemn figure that the dancers tread,
We faltered not. Of us, this word shall not be said.
Never of us be said
We had no war to wage,
Because our womanhood,
Because the weight of age,
Held us in servitude.
None sees us fight,
Yet we in the long night
Battle to give release
To all whom we must send to seek and die for peace.
When they have gone, we in a twilit place
Meet Terror face to face,
And strive
With him, that we may save our fortitude alive.
Theirs be the hard, but ours the lonely bed.
Nought were we spared—of us, this word shall not be said.
Never of us be said
We failed to give Godspeed to our adventurous dead.
Not in self-pitying mood
We saw them go,
When they set forth on those spread wings of pain:
So glad, so young,
As birds whose fairest lays are yet unsung
Dart to the height
And thence pour down their passion of delight,
Their passing into melody was turned.
So were our hearts uplifted from the low,
Our griefs to rapture burned;
And, mounting with the music of that throng,
Cutting a path athwart infinity,
Our puzzled eyes
Achieved the healing skies
To find again
Each wingèd spirit as a speck of song
Embosomed in Thy deep eternity.
Though from our homely fields that feathered joy has fled
We murmur not. Of us, this word shall not be said.
VERA BRITTAIN (1893-1970):
As a young woman, Brittain served as a volunteer nurse for the British army during W.W.I. Her beloved brother, Edward, her fiancé, Roland Leighton, as well as two of her closest friends died in combat. These experiences led her to become a pacifist in the 1920s, and she became well known for her anti-war efforts and her writing, especially her book Testament of Youth, which tells of her experiences during the war. This poem is dedicated to her fiancé, who was 20 years old when he was killed by a sniper.
“PERHAPS--”
(To R.A.L. Died of Wounds in France, December 23rd, 1915)
Perhaps some day the sun will shine again,
And I shall see that still the skies are blue,
And feel once more I do not live in vain,
Although bereft of You.
Perhaps the golden meadows at my feet
Will make the sunny hours of Spring seem gay,
And I shall find the white May blossoms sweet,
Though You have passed away.
Perhaps the summer woods will shimmer bright,
And crimson roses once again be fair,
And autumn harvest fields a rich delight,
Although You are not there.
Perhaps some day I shall not shrink in pain
To see the passing of the dying year,
And listen to the Christmas songs again,
Although You cannot hear.
But, though kind Time may many joys renew,
There is one greatest joy I shall not know
Again, because my heart for loss of
You Was broken, long ago.
QUESTIONS:
A common saying among British troops was “Went to war with Rupert Brooke, came home with Siegfried Sasson.” What do you think was meant by this?
What does Khan mean in her comment about Underhill’s poem?
Brittain’s poem is structured around the four seasons. Why might this be?
Whose poems would have been found most comforting to those at home, and why?